Dr. Ritesh Reddy, PhD aka Reddy2Go is a Creative Generalist, who uses the magic of the written word and the allure of the visual medium in conjunction with the building blocks of technology to expert effect when creating communication collateral for the New Media. He believes in the power of the individual & inspires independence through the 'Freelance Firestarter' blog.

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Twitter – the Brand New Bird!

The brand new Bird! Yes, like everyone else on the Internet, we are talking about the redesigned Twitter web interface. Twitter has announced major changes to the way users can interact with its interface. A complete multimedia makeover, the new Twitter engages and improves the user experience like never before. There’s more to see, more to do and more to engage with, without having to leave Twitter’s interface.

Life beyond 140 characters?

Now tweets can be expanded upon in a second column that opens up next to a users Twitter stream. This will allow for a rich multimedia content display of images and videos and even their location maps. With all the extra ammunition, Twitter now sports a fancy set of keyboard shortcuts which will be a hot feature for Twitter power users who no longer need to be slowed down by mouse interaction. For Gmail keyboard shortcut users, this will be a breeze and a welcome change.

Third-party Applications

The very nature and enterprise of third-party Twitter applications is at a crossroad, now that many cutting-edge features are already included within Twitter’s Web interface. Now we can expect apps that will expand on the base that new Twitter has laid out and introduce us to newer horizons and better functionality.

Advertising Avenues

The new Twitter interface is for companies looking to advertise. With content embedded enabled in the Web interface, customers or fans can now click on links without being carried away to a new site. This opens a Pandora’s Box of possibilities for Internet marketers.

What’s the Flipside?

Twitter has engaged the regular user with more content, offered the power user a boost with keyboard shortcuts and enticed business users with advertising in-site and yet hasn’t provided analytics to users. We are still left craving for conversation threads or nesting of tweets between users. Is this merely an appetizer for more?

The Final Tweet

Truth be told, this is a major upgrade for users and businesses alike who will soon be enjoying the enhanced usability: two columns that can adapt to either displaying extra information like lists and trends, or photos and videos that people are linking to related tweets thus encouraging users to stay put. Twitter is doing something similar to allowing Facebook which allows apps and sites to exist within its interface. However, Twitter users are highly mobile, and with skyrocketing mobile use, it’s hard to predict the response to this otherwise excellent change.

Dr. Ritesh Reddy, PhD aka Reddy2Go is a Creative Generalist, who uses the magic of the written word and the allure of the visual medium in conjunction with the building blocks of technology to expert effect when creating communication collateral for the New Media. He believes in the power of the individual & inspires independence through the 'Freelance Firestarter' blog.